Heaven Is Overrated
by Findabhiar Aery
Summary: STORY COMPLETED!! YAY!! Basically about a witch, Skyler Redfern, who is also a Daybreak spy until a soulmate confuses her perfect world (it's a lot better than the summary lets on, believe me)
1. Prologue

Title: Heaven Is Overrated  
Author: Findabhiar Aery

Disclaimer: All the characters you recognize, LJS's, all others, mine. All   
rights reserved, blah blah blah.

Also note, that the title and chapters use verses from "Drops of Jupiter" by Train. I don't own, and I'm not making profits.

Summary: Another story from my recent giant influx of ideas... About a  
Daybreak spy, Skyler Redfern. 

Prologue

"Ah, Deliah..." Raoul moaned as he sank inside her welcoming flesh.

She braced her arms against his chest and threw her head back as he arched  
up into her. Long deep red hair brushed his thighs as it flowed down her  
back. 

"Sorry. I didn't know it was this late." Skyler rushed in to Thierry's  
office and threw herself onto the couch beside Ash, who was openly laughing   
at her.

"Bullshit." He mumbled as she arranged her short skirt to her satisfaction  
against long legs. 

"Shhh..." She admonished him quietly before turning a bright, innocent  
smile in Thierry's direction.

He sighed and continued on with the meeting.

"We still have no info on the fourth. Please, someone, anyone, do you have   
anything?" He asked without much hope.

"Okay then. Skyler, report."

She shot up and primly clasped her hand behind her against her lower back.  
"Sir, yes Sir." 

"Just get on with it." Thierry rubbed his temples as the others gathered  
collectively coughed to hide laughter at the witch's antics.

"Raoul is fine. Not great, I mean, he's okay, but a little too rough for me,  
but he does this thing with his teeth against my-"

"Skyler!"

"Okay, okay, Thierry. Don't get your panties in a tangle or anything." She  
sighed and went on more seriously. "Raoul McNaught basically has told me  
everything I asked of him. And I managed to swipe a report on the last Night  
World council meeting from his papers. Everything will be included in my  
formal report which you will have on your desk at the end of the day  
Thierry, so don't worry."

Ash took in her satisfied smile with amusement. 

"Okay, so-"

"Did you ever think that it's possibly wrong to use sex to get what you  
want, Skyler?" Thea cut in, perturbed, interrupting Thierry's comment.

"Nope." She sat back down to lounge with a mocking smile for Thea. "Guys do  
it all the time..."

"Correction, guys only want sex, so it's different." Morgead announced with  
a wide grin and a wiggle of his eyebrows for Jez's benefit. She laughed. 

Skyler laughed with the others at that before saying, "So, Thea, you'd  
rather I torture and kill him rather than sleep with him."

"At least he wouldn't think that you're something you're not, and that you  
feel something more for him than you do." Poppy interjected quietly.

"So? How is that different from any of our other spies? You use whatever you   
have to get the job done. Hell, I enjoy it, he enjoys it, as have all the  
others. Is this an honourable thing to do? Who knows? Does the end justify  
the means? I believe it does." Skyler paused for impact, narrowing her  
ever-changing Redfern eyes. "And I do not appreciate the whole judge and  
jury act from people who are not spies, and mainly sit around Thierry's  
house whining about the fourth."

"Very smoother, Skyler." Thierry pronounced dryly later, alone in his office  
with the rebellious witch.

She inspected her nailpolish with studied fascination, ignoring him  
completely.

"You cleared the house once again. And that parting, "Blow me.", you gave  
was something else." He frowned at the top of her ruby-coloured head.

"If this happens agains, you will be removed from spy status." He sighed as  
she again gave no outward reaction to his words.

"As for Raoul, it is a good start, but I wish you to find out all you can  
about Ransom Blooded-"

"No way." She lifted her head at that, her currently sea green eyes flashing  
with fear, "He's a monster! Hell, even the Night World is afraid of him."

"He's also one of the highest members seated on the Night World council, and  
one of the best assassins in history." Thierry grinned slightly, "I thought  
you loved a challenge."

"A challenge, yes, suicide, no."

"Tomorrow night, Kerr Douccette is throwing a ball, a masque. You will be  
escorted by a Daybreaker, and you will finangle an introduction to Ransom,  
if possible."

"What of Raoul?" Skyler asked, hopeful he would allow he to stay with the  
tamer mission.

"No. You are going to concentrate on your new mission." He announced,   
dashing her hopes, "Rashel and Quinn's team has been sent to keep him out of  
your way."

"Okay..." 

"You're to keep your own name for this. Redfern does well in high circles,  
even though you're a witch. And you will keep your shields up at all times.  
Blooded is an incredible psychic, and you will not be a happy camper if he  
finds out what your true reason is for being there."


	2. Fall from a Shooting Star

Title: Heaven Is Overrated  
Author: Findabhiar Aery  
Email: findabhiar@hotmail.com  
  
Author's Note: thanks to Elizabeth, and Sage, and Amy, and anyone I'm prolly forgetting!!! the feedback was amazing... thank you so much....  
I do believe this is going to turn pretty fluffy, but still, tell me what you think, everyone.  
  
*************************************************************************  
Part 1  
  
"Tomorrow night, tomorrow night, tomorrow night...." Skyler muttered to herself as she prepared for bed. Her room was spotless, sparse, and white in colour with a few touches of beach wood. It was her sanctuary. This was the one place where she never took any men, and she always slept there. Always.  
  
She removed the dress she had worn, and carefully hung it up to be cleaned. Moving to the connecting bathroom, Skyler tied her long hair back and washed her face before slipping on the silk nightshirt she had left hung up behind the door earlier that morning.  
  
Skyler's personal life was one of neat precision and orderliness. She had not dated anyone outside of her missions for a few years, and preferred it that way. She was content.  
  
Before sliding beneath the turned back white cotton sheets on her large bed, she layed out the clothes for the next day. Sandals, pants, shirt.... everything. She could hear the bread machine churning from the kitchen down the hall in her small apartment for the next morning, and the echo of the antique clock in the hallway.   
  
And yet, after lying in bed, she could not sleep, even to those familiar sounds. Skyler sighed and slid out of bed, tugging on her matching white nightrobe as she moved toward her large bookshelves.  
  
"What shall it be tonight...." She whispered to herself as she scanned the shelves of well-worn book spines. "Jane Austen? Charles Dicky? Tolstoy? Ah, Machiavelli."  
  
Clutching her book, she sat in the comfortable window seat that looked out to the busy road below, and immersed herself til dawn in power and politics.  
  
***************************  
  
"Once more.... Come on, Skyler, you can do this...." Morgead watched her carefully as she started another set of hooks into his hands.   
  
"Okay, okay!! I'm dead." She stopped at the end of the set and grinned at him, pale skin glowing red with spent energy. She collapsed dramatically onto the mat and lay there while Jez laughed. She turned to look at the offending Wild Power, "You know, laughing at me, doesn't help. Just a thought there, darlin'."   
  
"Come on, get up." Morgead reached down to grab one of her limp arms and tugged her to her feet.  
  
Skyler winced at his lack of gentleness, "Ouch." Came almost as an afterthought.  
  
"Why the hell do I bother training with vampires?" She muttered, emphasizing the last word so that the couple could hear her disgust on her way to the bathroom.   
  
"We're the only ones who'd put up with you for any length of time!" Jez yelled after her. The reply was a single strategic finger held up over her left shoulder.  
  
"Shit." Skyler groaned as she lowered herself into the warm water that she had drawn for her bath, sore muscles tensing. She was in pretty good shape, why did she bother coming to the mansion to train? Human trainers were probably a lot easier, and nicer, she grossed to herself silently as she lay her head back.  
  
Thierry wanted her to be at Douccette's for 9:30 that evening, and Ash had volunteered himself as an escort, presumably so he could drink and laugh at her silently as she tried to chat up Ransom.  
  
Usually, she made herself a game plan when presented with a new mission. How to talk, act, everything was decided beforehand depending on who her mission was. It urked her that she knew so little about Blooded, she couldn't even think of how she was going to approach him. It went against her nature to play it by ear.  
  
"Hey, Redfern, you decent?" Ash yelled from the other side of the door.  
  
She looked down curiously at the bubbles obscuring her form. "Always."  
  
"Bull." She could hear him talk to someone else, "Man, she's a cousin, distant as it may be, and yet she still comes on to me."  
  
Skyler laughed at that, as did the the person with him, Poppy, Skyler deduced.  
  
"Listen, just come to the office when you're finished, okay?" Poppy yelled through the door to her.  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Now you're coming onto her? Up for a little girl/girl action? I'm cool with that, hell, I'd like to see it but, but what about James...." Ash's voice trailed off as they walked away from the door. Skyler laughed again and ducked her head under the water to quickly wash her hair.  
  
"Nice.... Let me guess, Hannah's choice?" Skyler asked taking in the dress a little while later. She then looked to Thierry with raised eyebrows. "It's certainly gonna get me attention."  
  
"That's the whole point. You are not going to fade into the background tonight, we want you to be exactly where Ransom Blooded will notice you." He replied distractedly looking through some papers on his desk.  
  
"Okie Dokie."  
  
"Wow... See-through clingy stuff...." Ash said with a look of awe. Skyler held up the dress to the light. Yep, definetly transparent. Nothing half-assed tonight. Hell, they were going to see her full ass, she thought with amusement.  
  
"You should try it on now. You know, just to make sure it fits...." He continued, somewhat lechy look on his face.  
  
"What would Mary-Lynnette think?" Skyler asked absently.  
  
Ash pondered for a moment, "She'd want to make sure it fitted properly."  
  
Skyler, Poppy, and Thierry all looked at him with raised eyebrows. "What?" He asked innocently.  
  
****************************  
  
Kerr Douccette stood beside Ransom, who was basically the focus of everyone's attention. Kerr was only grateful he had actually shown up at the ball, making it one of the few Night World events he came to other than the council meetings.  
  
He self-conciously touched the bejeweled mask he wore with his elaborate costume. Ransom had shown up in no mask, and simple understated black leather pants and a black shirt.   
  
He looked the essence of ice. Looking at no one, and talking seldom. Talking only to mock. And yet, he held court, lounging in the middle of one of the overstuffed elaborate couches in the corner of the large hall.  
  
Two females, vampires, flocked him on either side, hanging all over his lap and arms, and yet he ignored them. They took no notice.  
  
Finally, a couple walked through the archway into the hall that Kerr found the distraction that would take him away from Blooded's icy presence. He hurried to their side, and proceeded to simply stare at the female as introductions were made.  
  
Ash grinned beneath the simple black mask he wore as he took in Skyler's cool smile to their host as he stared at her chest.  
  
She sighed, making Kerr's eyes boggle at the sight of what her breathing did to the front of the dress. Skyler was already bored by the insipid host who had mumbled his name, and then seemed incapable of all else.   
  
"Come, honey, let's dance." Skyler said smoothly moving away with a tug on Ash's arm. His grin widened at her mocking use of the endearment.  
  
As she twirled around the room, her eyes quickly located Ransom, who she recognized from the pictures Thierry had presented her with in her mission file. Instantly, her face broke into a smile, and she laughed lightly in Ash's face.  
  
"What's so funny?" He murmured, perplexed.  
  
"Shutup." She mumbled out of the side of her still happily smiling face. Ash nodded, odviously some kind of thing to get Ransom's attention and quickly smiled back at her.  
  
She wore no mask, and her eyes glowed a deep violet beneath the tendrils of red hair that hung into her eyes and framed her face. The rest of her hair had been pulled up with a golden halo pinned into the locks. The translucent white dress shimmered, and white feathered wings were attached to her back.   
  
"Angel, my ass." Ash mumbled down to her. Her grin turned up and she really laughed outright. He spun her once more, and suddenly, her eyes caught and held onto a pair of cool slanted amber eyes. Ransom. He stared at her until she was again spun by Ash so her back faced in his direction. She shivered as she felt those unusual eyes on her back.  
  
Suddenly, they were stopped by a pouting female who asked to break in, leaving Skyler alone on the side of the dance floor. She still ignored Ransom, even after his odvious maneuverings, deciding that he should come to her.  
  
She now had her game plan.  
  
*************************************************************************  
  
Findabhiar Aery   
  
Step into my world.... http://www.angelfire.com/sc2/TheDevilsPlayGround  
  



	3. Sail Across the Sun

Part 2   
  
Are you just going to stand there alone all night? A cool voice infiltrated   
her carefully constructed shields. Skyler gasped softly and turned quickly   
to see who was in the vicinity.   
  
Over here.... The voice sounded amused, it could sense her anger and   
confusion. She finally turned in Ransom's direction, and he smiled slightly   
at her.   
  
"Oh.... For christ's sake, most people introduce themselves, have a cup of   
wine, whatever before they enter a person's fucking mind...." She muttered   
to herself as she turned from him and threw up heavier shields.   
  
Ah, so, do you talk to yourself often then? There was definitly amusement in   
that cool voice as it again infiltrated her mind.   
  
Stop that! She shot back at him, turning to give a glare for good measure.   
  
I'll stop if you come over and properly introduce yourself, instead of   
sulking and muttering about my lack of manners.... His smile widened as she   
narrowed her eyes across the room at him.   
  
She took a deep breath and calmly walked over. "Fuck it all, there goes my   
game plan."   
  
"Ah, so the mysterious angel has come to grace me with her presence...."   
Ransom drawled as she came to a stop at his feet.   
  
"Charmed, I'm sure." She smiled brightly, catching him off guard. He   
narrowed his eyes for a brief second before throwing his head back and   
laughing. The women beside him looked at him in astonishment before glaring   
at Skyler.   
  
"So, mysterious angel, do you have a name?" He went on, ignoring the looks   
he had recieved. She decided to do the same. Against her will, she was   
actually starting to like him.   
  
She smiled darkly at him, "Skyler."   
  
"Ah, so, Skyler, have a seat, and we'll have a glass of wine." His eyes   
glinted, reminding her of what she had said earlier about wine. The women   
both jerked up at the same instant and left his sight. He smiled at her   
impressed look.   
  
"Come.... Sit.... Shyness is not a good ally." He mocked lightly.   
  
"I am not shy." She stated while still standing before him. He grinned and   
reached out a hand to capture her gloved one and tugged her down beside him.   
Too close beside him.   
  
Quickly wrapping an arm around her, he kept her exactly where he wanted her.   
  
"I'm Ransom Blooded." He informed her as he reached over to grab a glass of   
red wine from the small table beside the couch.   
  
"Good for you. Do you usually treat women like this?" She asked, mock angry   
now.   
  
"No, just you." Again he laughed down into her face. She laughed with him in   
amazement. All that she had been told about the man had not prepared her for   
him. He was nothing like the descriptions. Witty, enigmatic, charming...   
Handsome, she mused with amusement.   
  
"So, 'Ransom', what are you supposed to be?" Skyler looked up and down his   
lean length very thoroughly.   
  
He grinned again and then leaned in to whisper into her ear, "A big bad   
vampire who eats witchs. Whole."   
  
She laughed with him and then he went on, "And you, my dear, how did you   
decide to come as an angel?" He handed her the glass during the question.   
  
She took a quick sip of the full wine before replying, "I go for the   
unexpected."   
  
"I like it... Very nice... Especially the dress..." He gazed intently down   
at her, stroking with his eyes all of the curves the dress did little to   
disguise, "You realize, that you're out to seduce me in that..."   
  
Skyler's heart jumped into her throat, but she just snuggled into his side   
and grinned up at his down-turned face, "Is it working?"   
  
"I'll have to see..." He leaned down and placed his lips against her's in a   
light kiss that took her breath away. He pulled back to look fully into her   
eyes before smiling, "I'm still not sure. I'll have to try again."   
  
They were both laughing when he put his mouth against her's in a kiss that   
was pure sex of the mouth. She clung to him as her mouth opened of it's own   
accord, and his hands plunged into her carefully done hair, sending pins   
flying.   
  
Before Skyler knew it, she was across his lap as he kissed his way down her   
throat to the low neckline of her dress. She whimpered and clung closer as   
he kissed along the neckline, across her breast, before coming back up to   
claim her mouth again.   
  
He pulled away to take in her currently blue passion-hazed eyes and   
delicately flushed pale skin, before he settled back on her swollen lips. He   
groaned on a ragged breath, "Let's get out of here before we do something   
that will shock the entire room."   
  
He rose with her still in his arms, letting her slide along him to the   
ground before he clasped her hand and walked toward the exit.   
  
Skyler was completely unaware of her surroundings, and didn't even notice   
Ash's quick thumbs up as she passed him. All her thoughts were on the man   
beside her and how his silky black hair was hanging into his eyes in a most   
beguiling way.   



	4. Back in the Atmosphere

Part 3   
  
Skyler stretched languidly, eyes stealing a glance at the long body that   
slept peacefully beside her on the large bed.   
  
She took the chance to look around the unfamiliar room. Dark was the first   
thing that came to her mind. The room was painted a dark maroon red, and   
only a few pieces of furniture lay about made of a dark, almost black wood.   
  
Carefully, so as not to disturb Ransom, she raised an arm over her face to   
see the silver bracelet-like watch strapped there. Almost 3 in the morning.   
She sighed. Time to go.   
  
It was a familiar feeling for her. She never stayed the night through. There   
would be ackwardness, and a closeness with her mission that she just   
couldn't handle. Especially with this mission, she mused, eyes sliding to   
him once more.   
  
Her arms slid reluctantly from around his neck to where his arm lay across   
her shoulders in a tight possessive grasp. He was facing her, sleeping on   
his side, with one leg tossed carelessly across both of her own.   
  
Lifting his arm slightly, she quickly slid out from beneath him, and knelt   
beside the bed for a moment as his only reaction was to roll onto his back   
with a soft sigh in his sleep.   
  
She sighed with relief, and cast one last lingering look at his beautiful   
pale body sprawled across the dark sheets, remembering the feel of those   
hands on her skin, before she pulled on her dress. Amber eyes watched with   
lazy curiousity, deciding on a course of action before she'd even left the   
room.   
  
Quickly, she scribbled a note to him, with some explaination and her phone   
number and left it on the pillow beside his dark head.   
  
With wings and halo in hand, she left silently, carrying her shoes until she   
was on the steps outside of his exclusive apartment complex.   
  
Her small cell phone was easily produced from beneath a fold in her right   
wing, and she quickly called a cab company, deciding against calling Thierry   
for help home.   
  
She showered upon arriving home, grimacing as water touched tender bruises   
made from clutching fingers, and climbed into bed, for once falling asleep   
peacefully to the sound of the bread machine, and the clock.   
  
Ransom let himself into her apartment quietly, using all the lockpicking   
skills he'd learned as a human years before, and quickly located her   
heartbeat at the back of the apartment.   
  
A quick glance around showed surprises. Clean, almost to the point of being   
obssessiveness, a definite aura of organisation that didn't quite fit in   
with the Skyler he had taken home earlier that night.   
  
His long legs ate up the wooden floor quickly on his way to what was   
odviously her bedroom. He stepped inside quickly, incredibly light on his   
feet. And then he stopped in astonishment.   
  
Shelves and shelves of books.... Books of every kind, on any subject filled   
the walls, though in a very neat, unobtrusive way. White was a prevalent   
colour, not exactly feminime, but strangely relaxing to his senses.   
  
She lay in the middle of a sea of white, looking so incredibly innocent and   
pure, he caught his breath in surprise. His feet making no noise on the   
light coloured wooden floor, he eased himself down to sit beside her on the   
bed, staring down at her.   
  
Beautiful red hair curled damply across the pillows, a shock to the eyes   
against the pure white. Her face was carved into pale marble, full red lips   
the only colour other than the slightect flush of pink across her high   
cheeks. Her lips opened on a sigh, and she turned fully toward him, as if   
feeling his presence in her sleep.   
  
He lay down carefully, eyes still focussed on her face, and put a gentle arm   
around her waist, bringing her to his side completely.   
  
Skyler snuggled her head under his chin, feeling a strange feeling of deep   
happiness at the odd dream she was experiencing. Ransom was holding her...   
She sighed again and her eyes fluttered as she fell into an even deeper   
sleep, feeling somehow protected, and fulfilled....   
  
*********************************   
  
"Good morning sunshine." Rashel drawled as Skyler walked into the mansion's   
kitchen.   
  
"Good morning." Skyler replied quietly.   
  
"What, no insults, no debating, nothing?" Rashel mocked as Skyler silently   
poured herself a glass of juice and turned to leave the room. She stopped to   
look at the older girl, eyebrows raised.   
  
"I save myself for the worthwhile." She announced mockingly, and promptly   
left the room before Rashel could think of a reply.   
  
She sighed and wandered into the large tv room that was rarely used by the   
rest of the occupants. The books did not beckon to her, so she sat quietly   
on a large chair in the corner of the darkened room.   
  
When she had woken up that morning, she had been in a panic, as she had   
thought for a moment that someone had been sharing her bed. She calmed down   
when a quick glance told her she was going insane.   
  
She just could not stop smelling Ransom's distinctive scent all around her,   
and finally had to get out of her home. Skyler was a wreck. Even after the   
amazing sleep she'd had all night after returning home, for the first time   
in years, she could not stop thinking of him.   
  
Her tidy existence was beginning to crumble. Her bread had burned after   
being left for too long in the machine when she'd finally wandered out of   
bed, and then the pants that she had wanted to wear had been at the dry   
cleaners, something she would have realized while laying out her clothes for   
the next as she usually did upon arriving home.   
  
She hated to do it, and had never done it before, but she was going to have   
to resign from this mission. A lump formed in her throat at the thought of   
what else they'd have to do to Ransom to get the information they needed,   
but she wouldn't allow herself to care enough to stop them, and cared too   
much for herself and him to keep on with the mission.   



	5. The Light is Fading

Part 4   
  
"Hey beautiful...." A bouquet of wildflowers suddenly appeared in front of   
Skyler's face as she sat on a park bench reading.   
  
"Holy..." Skyler quickly turned, hair swirling to see the amber eyes that   
had haunted her dreams all night after leaving him, "Ransom."   
  
"Non other, darlin'." He drawled leaning down to give her a quick kiss and   
take a glance at what she had been reading before he had arrived. "Vanity   
Fair, eh?"   
  
"Have you read it?" She asked conversationally not really expecting an   
answer, the kiss affecting her more than it should have.   
  
"Yeah. Very amusing in a kind of satrical black humour sort of way." He sank   
down beside her, trying to catch her eye, "Do you come here often to read?"   
  
"No, I actually usually only read in my room." She answered. She felt a   
slight spark of amusement at how stilted their conversation was as they both   
tried to avoid discussing the night before. She knew her reason for doing   
so, but was unsure of his motives.   
  
Skyler raised hesitant bright green eyes to his, and found him waiting for   
her. They stared at each other until Skyler looked away feeling him looking   
into her soul with each passing moment.   
  
Inside she stormed at herself. She had promised herself long ago that no   
one, especially no Night World cronie would ever make her lose her   
composure, her cool. And yet, this man could do so with a simple glance in   
her direction.   
  
Ransom felt the inane urge to grin at the indecision he had seen in her   
eyes. Her hesitancy pleased him. So, she was shy. Her room, her apartment   
hadn't lied about a woman who was becoming ever more intriguing to him.   
  
He had never actually had a conversation with a woman for this long before,   
let alone a witch. They usually just jumped into his bed. Been there, done   
that, he thought with great amusement, keeping his face completely   
emotionless as she gazed at her hands with great fascination.   
  
"Where did you go last night?" He asked softly, no longer wishing to avoid   
the subject.   
  
"Oh, you didn't get my note?" She cringed as she listened to the slight   
tremble in her voice and tried in vain to remember what excuse she had   
written to him.   
  
"I did." He leaned back, looking at her from beneath long dark lashes, "I   
just didn't think that it was a very good reason."   
  
"Oh." Skyler answered, suddenly breathless.   
  
"What was the real reason you left?" He sat motionless, still staring at her   
intently with those unusual, yet incredibly seductive eyes.   
  
"I.... don't remember...." She whispered. Even to her own ears it sounded   
idiotic, yet she couldn't seem to stop staring into the amber pools.   
  
"Yes you do." He said back just as quietly, "Were you afraid?"   
  
"Afraid of what?" She looked away finally, trying to sound flippant. A pale   
hand reached out to gently cup her chin and turn her face back to his before   
he replied, "Of this."   
  
She stopped breathing as his mouth brushed against her own. He pulled away   
far too quickly, and they simply stared at each other for a moment before   
she leaned forward to unknowingly seal her fate by repeating the action.   
  
*************************   
  
"You have to take me off this mission!" Skyler burst into Thierry's office   
later that day, breathless.   
  
Thierry's eyebrows shot into his hairline at the unusual request from the   
one spy he had who had never backed down from anything he had thrown her   
way, "Why?"   
  
"I just can't do it. He's too powerful, he'll kill me before I find   
anything." She said in a rush, pacing around in front of his desk.   
  
"I thought everything was going well. Ash said you went home with him last   
night." Thierry was still astonished and perplexed in this sudden turn of   
events.   
  
"Ash was wrong, okay?" She glared over at him, hating his questions at that   
moment, unable to deal with them.   
  
"Okay." Thierry thought for a moment. Skyler was definitly holding something   
back from him. He had never seen her in this much of a, well, frenzy. It was   
not in her character to lose her head like this.   
  
"Thank you." Skyler breathed gratefully as he thought, squelching the part   
of her that was crying out at the thought of leaving Ransom to the others.   
He could take care of himself, her rational mind shouted. But what about her   
ability to take care of herself, another quieter part of her mind argued   
softly. She ignored it.   
  
"What are you not telling me, Skyler?" Thierry questioned, noting the relief   
on her surprisingly expressive features, and yet he saw the immense   
indecision there, "Has he done anything to hurt you?"   
  
"No, no." Skyler burst out, horrified at such a suggestion, and then   
proceeded to mentally slap herself as Thierry's eyebrows again located his   
hairline.   
  
"It's nothing like that, I just.... fear him too much to continue." She   
quickly burst out with the partial lie.   
  
"Okay." He said quietly, still watching her intently. He had not seen her   
like this since the day she had lost her mother. Finally, the ice was   
cracking, and he was determined to find out why. He decided that that was   
not the time, and he should first work on getting her out of this mission   
before trying to discover her inner workings. "I'll send a team to take care   
of it."   
  
"Could I please be transferred to another location until this all blows   
over?" She asked urgently. He nodded, thinking it a good idea. "We need some   
people up in New York at the moment."   
  
"That sounds terrific!" Skyler jumped on the idea, ignoring the amount of   
space it would put between her and Ransom. She wanted this, right?   
  
"The earliest we can arrange would be in two days time. Are you sure this is   
what you want?" Thierry questioned, still quiet.   
  
"Yes." She shook off the momentary indecision, "Yes. This is exactly what I   
want."   



	6. Time to Change

Skyler applied her makeup with shaking hands. She was nervous. It was an   
unfamiliar feeling for her, and she had decided she didn't enjoy it. Of   
course, that fact didn't change that she was still feeling it.   
  
This would be her first mission since Ransom 3 months ago. She could no   
longer think of any excuse to keep her from working. Moving to New York had   
taken all of a week with her working around the clock. Working on anything,   
day and night, helped her. It froze her emotions to some distant place were   
nothing could touch them.   
  
Her hand slid wildly, leaving a streak of thick black eye shadow down her   
pale cheek. "Damn." Skyler muttered as she threw down the pencil and wiped   
at it with a kleenex.   
  
As she went back to her eye makeup, she thought of the night ahead. Her new   
mission was called Dominic Wolff, a shapeshifter. She had all the   
information she could ever need on him, and his picture, and she was still   
nervous.   
  
She wandered into her bedroom, briefly mourning the loss of her books, which   
she had left with various Daybreakers, not finding logic in carting them   
across the country. Everything looked too... new, unlived in still, after   
all the months since she had moved in.   
  
Moving to one of the tables in the room, she moved the small hidden panel   
out, and took another look at the Dominic Wolff file. She read it   
absentmindedly, and grimaced as she realized she had been biting her nails   
while doing so. It was an old habit, and she had just recently taken it up   
again for the first time since her mother had died five years before. She   
had also been dreaming about her mother, something she hadn't done since   
joing Circle Daybreak four years before.   
  
She threw down the file back into the compartment, and shoved it closed with   
her hip as she walked past.   
  
The whole apartment still did not feel like her own. It was too modern, too   
brightly lit with garish fluorescent lighting that she could remember all   
too well from high school. Her furniture did not fit, looking old-fashioned   
and out-of-date against the high gloss whiteness of the entire apartment.   
She hated it.   
  
She also hated New York. It was cold, and there was no beach to escape to,   
and she missed her few friends. Especially her Daybreak friends, and   
training with Jez and Morgead, who had become her closest friends from the   
moment she had joined. She missed the conversations about everything she had   
with Jez, and the way Morgead made her laugh and forget the world.   
  
They had both called her almost every night since she had arrived in New   
York, but it wasn't the same. She missed her old life, and she missed   
Ransom. She missed him in a way that confused her, and she hated thinking   
about it, but she still ended up doing so.   
  
She sighed and shrugged on a winter coat, the first thing she had bought   
upon arrival to the city. It was time to go.   
  
****************************   
  
"This way, my dear. I have a surprise..." Ransom heard Dominic's faint   
voice, and frowned moodily as the door to the darkened room he stood in   
slowly opened.   
  
She looked amazing, if a little more slender and tired-looking. Her skin   
shone in the dim light, and her eyes flashed as she tried to get her   
bearings in the unfamiliar room.   
  
Skyler looked around curiously, not really caring what she saw, not caring   
what Dominic's big surprise was. She moved inside, and whirled around as the   
door clicked shut behind her, leaving her alone.   
  
"Dominic? Where are you going?" She called out. All she could hear was his   
laughter fading away, and then she was alone. She felt her hand along the   
side of the door, trying to find a light switch she knew had to be there.   
  
"Don't." A soft voice said with power behind that one word. She whirled back   
in disbelief. "Ransom?"   
  



	7. Trace Your Way Through the Constellation...

Part 6  
  
Skyler stood motionless, eyes searching the darkness from where Ransom's voice had come from.   
  
"Surprised, darlin'?" He asked almost mockingly, cigarette lighting up his face eerily as he raised it to his lips.  
  
She swallowed at the first sight of his face in three months, and proceeded to say the first, and therefore the most idiotic, thing that came to mind, "Smoking causes cancer you know."  
  
"I don't believe I need to worry about that," He looked at her sardonically, "Do I."  
  
Skyler cringed, and turned back to the door, only to find it locked quite thoroughly.  
  
"What," Ransom drawled dangerously, not moving, "Circle Daybreak did not teach you how to pick a lock?"  
  
"What?" Skyler laughed nervously, again trying the door, "What are you talking about?"  
  
"Don't." He repeated softly, "I know everything."  
  
"Oh really." She looked over her shoulder to glare at him out of shock.  
  
Ransom took another slow drag, and turned icy eyes onto her slender form. "Really."  
  
Involuntarily trembling as he kept his gaze on her, she had never felt so frightened in her life. She decided to do what she had always done, play dumb. "What are you talking about? You just can't take it that I left you to move here, can you?"  
  
Anger, along with some other emotion flashed in his eyes for a moment before being replaced by solid, impenetrable amber. "That's it exactly, Skyler. I just couldn't face not having a Daybreak whore in my bed."  
  
She sucked in her breath at his calm, yet harsh words. They hurt, even though it was something she had heard before. "How dare you...."  
  
"Very easily. I dare, because I can afford to." He looked upon her shaking form with mocking amusement. "You however, you don't have that luxury. Especially not now."  
  
"Why the fuck not?" She turned quickly, not waiting for an answer to tug once again at the door. Fear was prevailing, and she no longer cared about what information Ransom could get out of her, she just wanted out of this room.  
  
"Because, my dear girl, you are locked into a small dark room, with a big bad vampire, who has not only superior strength, but about 200 years, and over a 100 lbs on you." He looked her up and down slowly. "I believe I'm the one with the advantage."  
  
He walked over to the other side of the room, ignoring Skyler's cowering figure against the door, and put his cigarette to a candle that rested there. He repeated this action until a number of candles were lit, sending off a glow that seemed to warm the angles of his face in Skyler's frightened preception.  
  
"I must say, it's not like you to cower, my dear."  
  
"How the hell do you know? You don't know me, you know nothing about me!" She yelled, furious now at his mocking.  
  
"I doubt that, darlin'. I sincerely doubt that." He laughed, a cold hard laugh that did nothing to soften the lines of his high cheekbones.  
  
"Whatever."  
  
"Ah, so now you're gonna pout, right? You're not going to ask me what I know? You have to ask, that's part of the fun." Ransom's eyes flashed a clear challenge at her, even as he mocked her.  
  
Skyler sighed, and drooped against the door, coming to sit on the floor with her knees clutched to her chest. "Alright, what? What do you know about me?"  
  
"Thank you." He looked at her bent head seriously for a moment, considering, before choosing his words with care. "I know that you're a very funny, witty even, person, charming when you choose, extremely intelligent, though you try to hide it, have an enormous book library, and work for Circle Daybreak.  
  
You're incredibly neat and organized, passionate if you care enough, love if you have reason enough, leave if you fear enough. You're beautiful, deceitful, and you go up in flames when I touch you. I know more about you than most people know about someone they've known their whole lives."   
  
Skyler slowly looked up at him, stunning blue eyes shining with unshed tears at his speech. He sat down gracefully in a plush chair in the softly lit room, and stared back at her.  
  
"I also know that you intrigue me, and that you make me forget."  
  
"Forget what?" She asked quietly, emotions on high.  
  
"Everything." He looked away for a moment, before looking back, "Everything."  
  
She stood shakily, and walked to stand between his long, outstretched legs, her eyes never leaving his for a moment. "How?"  
  
Ransom reached out a hand to gently cup the side of her face, "By being with me."  
  
She let out a quiet sob before placing her lips on his, and running trembling fingers through silky black hair. He groaned and pulled her into his lap, stroking the side of her neck as he deepened the kiss to a fever-pitch. Skyler ran her tongue over his teeth curiously, and felt the immediate growth, along with his moan and warning, watch where you tread, resounded throughout her mind, as he was both unwilling and unable to pull back enough to say it vocally to her.  
  
She pulled away, and gazed down at him with hazy grey eyes. She licked her swollen lips, and watched his eyes dilate as he took in her actions. She could see the small indents in his full lower lip from his teeth, and pulled her long hair away from the side of her neck, guiding his mouth there with a hand on the back of his neck.  
  
He rebelled, but stilled as he realized how much she wanted it, and bit quickly into the soft skin there.  
  
Skyler sighed with pleasure, and closed her eyes as their minds merged with a bewildering array of light and silver.   
  
I know you....  



	8. Dance Along the Light of Day

Part 7  
  
Skyler pulled back slightly to look at him with shock, "Why did we not feel this before?"  
  
Ransom looked at her unfathomably, golden eyes glowing in the darkened room, "I don't know. Maybe we were not ready to feel it."  
  
"Logical." Skyler grimaced. "I hate it when people bring logic into it. It just makes everything so much more illogical."  
  
"Oh, okay." Ransom paused to grin down at her, "And that makes what kind of sense exactly...?"  
  
"Never mind." She sighed and leaned back into him. "I can think of five things that would be much more interesting to do than sit here and talk."  
  
"Five?" He raised an eyebrow, "Why five?"  
  
"At last!" She wiggled her eyebrows at him.  
  
Tugging off his shirt to skim her fingers along smooth muscles, she grinned up at him, "Five."  
  
His footwear was the next to go, "Four."  
  
"Three." His pants were unzipped and pulled off with his somewhat eager, and amused help.  
  
"Two." She laughed and snapped his black silk boxers (I couldn't resist after all the discussion about what Damon wears... yum.), before pulling them off completely and sliding to the floor to stare up into his rapidly darkening eyes.  
  
"What's next?" He asked, watching her flushed face intently.  
  
"One..." She smiled slightly before her mouth enveloped him in moist satin, as he arched off the seat.  
  
He growled slightly deep in his throat before dragging her up over his body to once again straddle his lap. She moaned as his long fingers ran lightly over her straining nipples through the velvet of her dress.  
  
"How is it that you have retained your clothes while I freeze all alone in my birthday suit?" He asked quizzically, still stroking her languidly. She sighed and shifted in his lap to feel more of him against her.   
  
"Just lucky, I guess." Was an afterthought as her mind registered what he had said.  
  
"Hmm..." He lifted her up slightly to pull the bottom of the dress quickly up and over her head. "Not so alone anymore..."  
  
***********************************  
  
"He's dying, and they're all dead!" Rashel screamed, unchecked tears running the length of her cheeks.   
  
"I know." Thierry murmured, his face pale with the news. Rashel and Quinn had gone after Ransom Blooded with a team, but he had been more powerful than they had ever suspected.  
  
"Rashel...." Poppy reached out a hesitant hand to the older girl, but Rashel was beyond hearing.   
  
"I request permission to take another team to get him in New York." She said, wiping her face roughly.   
  
"No. You are not in stable condition to do so. Stay with Quinn, I will send Keller's team." Thierry said decisively.  
  
"No! Quinn is dying, and you want me to simply hold his hand and say there there?!" In hysterics, she slammed her fists down on the edge of his desk. Anger flowed freely as she took in how calm he looked. Calm, despite what Quinn was going through. Calm, despite how volatile she was feeling.  
  
"Stay in the mansion, Rashel." Thierry said low, with a dangerous edge to his voice.  
  
"No." She said back, quiet after figuring everything out for herself. "I go tomorrow. You can either help me, or not, but you can not keep me away."  
  
"What about Skyler? She's in New York, perhaps she can do something." Poppy said desperately, feeling the anger and tension floating from Rashel's tense figure.  
  
Rashel turned to her with hatred in her flashing green eyes, beyond caring who was saying what, "What, send a little sex toy after the fucking Night Worlder who did that to Quinn? She wouldn't last a minute. I can't believe this! I'm going to kill him, and nothing is going to stop me. He deserves to pay."  
  
She turned, and stormed out of the room, leaving Poppy and Thierry sitting pale and rigid in their seats.  
  
"She's upset... I don't think she'll actually go..." Poppy offered uncertainly.   
  
Thierry looked at her unfathomably before picking up the telephone that sat on the edge of his desk, "Nilsson? I want a full watch on Rashel Jordan. She is not to leave the grounds. Detain her with force if necessary."  
  
"Quinn? Quinn, can you hear me?" Rashel lifted a shaking hand to press against the side of his still face, and kissed his lips lightly, cringing at the coldness she felt there. Tears erupted again, as she sobbed.  
  
"Please don't go... Quinn... I need you..." She pressed her forehead to his, seeking the soulmate connection, and moaned when she felt nothing.  
  
"I will avenge.... I will avenge....." She whispered into the quiet darkness.   



	9. Head Back to the Milky Way

Author's Note: I'm sorry about the "avenge" thing in the last part. Eliza, I   
think, told me off. I'll change that for my final copy!!! don't worry!!!   
  
*************************************************************************   
Part 9   
  
Ransom brushed Skyler's hair off her forehead and kissed the smooth skin   
there. She sighed and shifted in her sleep. He smiled softly at her, and   
edged out of the bed.   
  
Thorwing on an old pair of jeans, he moved to the bedside table and removed   
the small velvet box he had placed there a day or two ago. He looked at it,   
then at his love. He smiled and slipped it into his pocket for later.   
  
"Flowers... food...." He mumbled. All the things necessary for asking this   
lovely girl to be with him forever. He then reached for a shirt and his   
coat. New York was even chilly to his senses this time of year after the   
balminess of Las Vegas.   
  
"Ransom....?" Skyler woke slowly, reaching for him.   
  
"Go back to sleep, darlin'. I'm just going out for a moment..." He leaned   
over to kiss her gently as she smiled and fell back to sleep. He carefully   
arranged the sheets to cover her bare body fully, and then left.   
  
Skyler woke some time later, a feeling of lethargy overwheliming all other   
senses.   
  
"Hmmm...." She sighed, stretching out her body luxuriously. As she woke   
completely, she realized she had just spent the entire night with Ransom.   
Something she had never done before. Not just with him, with anyone. And   
where was he, anyway?   
  
"Ransom?" She climbed out of the large bed, and looked around the room,   
slipping on a castaway shirt of his that lay across a chair beside the bed.   
Something was wrong, she could feel it. Now that she was completely awake,   
she felt an.... emptiness. Where Ransom's presence had occupied her mind   
before, now there was... nothing.   
  
"Ransom?!" She cried out, running into the unfamiliar hallway, hoping to see   
him lounging in the living room she had spied the night before on their way   
to his bedroom through the apartment. "Ransom?"   
  
"Skyler?" Rashel stepped out of one of the other rooms, a look of pure   
astonishment crossing her otherwise saddened features.   
  
"Rashel? What are you doing here? Why aren't you in Las Vegas?" Skyler's   
eyes scanned the room behind the taller girl wildly, hoping against all the   
foreboding that had found a home in the pit of her stomache.   
  
Rashel scanned Skyler's dishevelled appearance. It was odvious what had   
happened. Her green eyes hardened and narrowed. She walked slowly toward the   
redhead, holding her gaze, stalking her prey. "I should ask you the same   
question."   
  
Skyler smiled, oblivious to Rashel's sudden anger, euphoria filling her as   
she thought of all that had happened between her and Ransom. "You'll never   
believe this, hell, I can hardly believe it, but Ransom is my soulmate! I   
knew I'd find him someday, well, I had hoped, but kinda dreaded it too. But   
now that I have, all I can feel is happiness!! It's an amazing feeling."   
  
"What I can't believe, is that you were in love with the man, the vampire,   
that killed my soulmate." Rashel's voice was low and dangerous.   
  
"What?" Skyler gasped in shock. "No, you can't be right. He wouldn't do   
that."   
  
"I know what happened. I was there. He killed my team, and my soulmate.   
Quinn died trying to protect me, and it was all HIS fault!" She stood over   
Skyler, who had crumpled to the floor with tears running down the sides of   
her face.   
  
"No... No.... Where is he?" She asked brokenly, jumping at Rashel's harsh,   
vindictive laughter.   
  
"He's dead."   



	10. Epilogue

Skyler raised listless eyes to the sky. The golden sunset gave a feeling of looking into Ransom's eyes. That could never happen again though. She sighed, and turned to walk away.   
  
Rashel had left after telling her that Ransom was dead, and she hadn't seen her since that fateful morning. Jez, who had gone along with her to New York to watch out for her, found Skyler and presented her with the ring Ransom had had on him, clearly for her.  
  
Skyler had cried upon seeing the ring with it's endless inscriptions of the sky around the band, covering every inch of it. Ransom had put all of his love into that, and she wore it on her left hand where he had intended it to go, it's rightful place. She looked at it now, smiling sadly as she read the inscriptions to herself yet again, "I want to kiss the Sky, stay here forever, heaven is overrated...."   
  
Skyler sat back from her computer, flexing her fingers. Ten years later, and the memories were still vivid for her. She had written everything. Everything. A time to tell her story, as Jez had urged. She had felt it to. A time to tell what she knew, and had felt, a time to set straight the lies.  
  
The Night World had never accepted Ransom's love for her, even after his death, and had put out false reports of their time together. Skyler had moved on, and no longer cared what they said, or whispered when she had walked into a crowded room. The whispers had stopped long ago, but there was still stares.   
  
She had left Daybreak after Ransom. Thierry had asked her to stay, but he understood her need to leave everything that still had the power to hurt her behind. Rashel had gone slightly insane after, and she had been put in a safe house in the country somewhere where she could do no harm to anyone.   
  
Completely giving up her witch heritage, which she had never exactly embraced had been no hardship. She lived as a human, and only occasionally went to a party with Jez and Morgead, or to a club with Ash, and his soulmate Mary Lynnette.   
  
Skyler stared at the screen, trying to decide how to finish her story. That Ransom still lived, if only to her? That everything was eternally hunky dory? Some days were worth living, and others weren't. All she knew was that she lived still. Life went on, after all. No regrets. Perhaps heaven IS overrated.  
  
  
The End 


End file.
